Cuba vs climate change: Life Task advances in Cienfuegos province

CIENFUEGOS, Cuba, Mar 9 (ACN) Some 200 actions, corresponding to the Cuban State's plan to confront climate change, known as Life Task (Tarea Vida), were implemented in the short term (2017-2020) in prioritized areas in the province of Cienfuegos.

Clarivel Guerrero Moreno, senior specialist for Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA) in the territory, told the Cuban News Agency that in this period the plan advanced in key programs such as reforestation, land management, sustainable agriculture and food security.
She also mentioned the protection of coastal ecosystems, the management of water resources and the use of renewable energy sources.

She said that they had planned to reforest 23.5 hectares of the hydro-regulating strip of the Hanabanilla basin and reached 42.5 ha, in addition, increased the forestation index, which went from 10.68 percent in 1998 to 18.96 percent at the end of 2019.

Guerrero Moreno pointed out that through the modernization of land management plans, they updated the habitat potential, where they identified 39,542 homes at high risk of natural disasters and six settlements affected by the permanent rise in sea level.

In the case of sustainable agriculture and food security, the directive highlighted that they installed irrigation machines in plants and cooperatives; this allowed them to increase the production of sugar cane to 30 tons per hectare in these units, as well as the increase in the production of various crops such as sweet potatoes, cassava and beans, she said.

Another objective achieved during this stage was the protection of coastal ecosystems through the planting of 56.4 hectares of mangrove in Cumanayagua, Abreus and Cienfuegos municipalities.

The care of the coastal vegetation was also another goal achieved, because it was possible to control the fishing of parrot and barber species, which contribute to the conservation of the three coral reef barriers in the region, said the specialist.

On the other hand, she added, the management of water resources made it possible to improve the water treatment plants of Rodas, Maleza, Camarones, Caonao and Paso Bonito to supply several population settlements distributed throughout the province.

The use of renewable energy sources also obtained good results in the short term, since 4.8 percent of the electricity consumed in the province is clean and, for this reason, 6,440 tons (t) of fossil fuels were not used and 18,727 tons of carbon dioxide were not emitted into the atmosphere, he said.

Cienfuegos has 1,979 renewable source equipment installed, broken down into biogas digesters (219), windmills (422), solar water heaters (426), photovoltaic systems (703), mini-hydroelectric plants (16), solar fields (six), hydraulic rams (23) and siphons (164).

Another prioritized program, carried out by the University of Medical Sciences, was the implementation of projects related to environmental health, vectors, climate change and psychological health, the expert concluded.

Several organizations are involved in the execution of the Tarea Vida, among them CITMA, Azcuba, the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources, the Provincial Directorate of Physical Planning and the Ministries of Agriculture, Food Industry, Public Health, Tourism, Construction, and Energy and Mines, among others.

In this demarcation of the center of the island, work is already planned for the medium term (2021-2030) and four priority areas are registered: the capital city and the bay, the southern coastal area of Cumanayagua and Cienfuegos, the municipalities of Rodas and Santa Isabel de Las Lajas, and the southwest of Abreus to the west of the bay, near the Zapata Swamp.